San Ignacio Lagoon, Baja California
Once California gray whales swam in abundance along the Pacific Coast of North America, going north in spring and going south in fall. Nobody was quite certain just where they were going, or why. The two parts of the mystery were solved almost simultaneously, and both by whalers.
In 1848 Yankee whalers began to penetrate through Bering Straits, between Alaska and Russia, and there they found the gray whales in the Arctic summer. But the whalers were seeking the larger, oil-rich bowhead whales, each with a mouth full of long and very profitable baleen plates, so they mostly let the gray whales be. In 1855 another whaler, Charles Melville Scammon, solved the southern mystery when he took his whaling ship across a treacherous sandbar and into a large, shallow lagoon along the Pacific coast of Baja California, and there he discovered the winter nursery waters of the gray whales. He returned to San Francisco with a hold full of barrels of whale oil. Sailors being a talkative lot, particularly in dockside drinking establishments, he could not keep his find a secret; soon other whaling ships were there to share in the riches. The whalers would harpoon a young calf and use it as a lure to bring the larger, more profitable mother within range of their harpoons. They called the gray whales “devil fish” for the fierce way in which the mothers would thrash out in defense of their young. Inevitably, the hunger of whalers for profit exceeded the capacity of the whales to breed, and their numbers plummeted. Only then did the whalers abandon their Mexican grounds. Slowly, calf-by-calf, the gray whale populations recovered.
In the 1930s, a second wave of exploitation struck the gray whales. This was another era of whaling using floating factory ships, each with a fleet of diesel-powered catcher boats carrying bow-mounted harpoon guns. It was no contest. Whales taken from the Pacific were hauled aboard the factories and quickly reduced to oil. Again gray whale numbers plummeted. So not once but twice our species has nearly decimated the gray whales. But we can report that, happily, with the cessation of commercial whaling (at least it is so for gray whales) their numbers have again increased, perhaps to levels comparable to the pre-exploitation level.
Today we saw a most remarkable sight and joined in a most remarkable experience. Our Zodiacs took us across the barrier sandbar, the same one crossed by colleagues of Scammon, to enter San Ignacio Lagoon. It is one of four gray whale nursery lagoons along the Baja California coast. We spread out in search of whales and, of course, we found them.
Males and females without young have already departed on the journey to their northern, icy feeding grounds. Here, in the warm water of the lagoon, we found mothers closely attending their calves, now about three months old. They, too, will soon depart, but today we found them swimming against the tidal current, perhaps exercising in preparation for the long journey. But the remarkable part: for some reason known only to the whales, females may bring their calves right up to the sides of small boats like ours and whales interact with people. It is an act that is initiated by the whales; we can only offer ourselves and hope. The whales, for their own reason, reach out to us, and we reach out to them, hoping that for one brief moment we can make contact.
All of us had wonderful encounters with whales at close quarters. The whales touched us with their presence and their moist breath; some of us touched them; all of us left better for the experience.
It is said that the eye is the window to the soul. Today we looked into the soul of the gray whales and found that they seem to have forgiven our kind for the way in which we treated them in the past. Now we try to redeem ourselves by protecting their nursery lagoons in Baja California, that they may never again suffer at our hands as they have in the past.
Once California gray whales swam in abundance along the Pacific Coast of North America, going north in spring and going south in fall. Nobody was quite certain just where they were going, or why. The two parts of the mystery were solved almost simultaneously, and both by whalers.
In 1848 Yankee whalers began to penetrate through Bering Straits, between Alaska and Russia, and there they found the gray whales in the Arctic summer. But the whalers were seeking the larger, oil-rich bowhead whales, each with a mouth full of long and very profitable baleen plates, so they mostly let the gray whales be. In 1855 another whaler, Charles Melville Scammon, solved the southern mystery when he took his whaling ship across a treacherous sandbar and into a large, shallow lagoon along the Pacific coast of Baja California, and there he discovered the winter nursery waters of the gray whales. He returned to San Francisco with a hold full of barrels of whale oil. Sailors being a talkative lot, particularly in dockside drinking establishments, he could not keep his find a secret; soon other whaling ships were there to share in the riches. The whalers would harpoon a young calf and use it as a lure to bring the larger, more profitable mother within range of their harpoons. They called the gray whales “devil fish” for the fierce way in which the mothers would thrash out in defense of their young. Inevitably, the hunger of whalers for profit exceeded the capacity of the whales to breed, and their numbers plummeted. Only then did the whalers abandon their Mexican grounds. Slowly, calf-by-calf, the gray whale populations recovered.
In the 1930s, a second wave of exploitation struck the gray whales. This was another era of whaling using floating factory ships, each with a fleet of diesel-powered catcher boats carrying bow-mounted harpoon guns. It was no contest. Whales taken from the Pacific were hauled aboard the factories and quickly reduced to oil. Again gray whale numbers plummeted. So not once but twice our species has nearly decimated the gray whales. But we can report that, happily, with the cessation of commercial whaling (at least it is so for gray whales) their numbers have again increased, perhaps to levels comparable to the pre-exploitation level.
Today we saw a most remarkable sight and joined in a most remarkable experience. Our Zodiacs took us across the barrier sandbar, the same one crossed by colleagues of Scammon, to enter San Ignacio Lagoon. It is one of four gray whale nursery lagoons along the Baja California coast. We spread out in search of whales and, of course, we found them.
Males and females without young have already departed on the journey to their northern, icy feeding grounds. Here, in the warm water of the lagoon, we found mothers closely attending their calves, now about three months old. They, too, will soon depart, but today we found them swimming against the tidal current, perhaps exercising in preparation for the long journey. But the remarkable part: for some reason known only to the whales, females may bring their calves right up to the sides of small boats like ours and whales interact with people. It is an act that is initiated by the whales; we can only offer ourselves and hope. The whales, for their own reason, reach out to us, and we reach out to them, hoping that for one brief moment we can make contact.
All of us had wonderful encounters with whales at close quarters. The whales touched us with their presence and their moist breath; some of us touched them; all of us left better for the experience.
It is said that the eye is the window to the soul. Today we looked into the soul of the gray whales and found that they seem to have forgiven our kind for the way in which we treated them in the past. Now we try to redeem ourselves by protecting their nursery lagoons in Baja California, that they may never again suffer at our hands as they have in the past.
